107b: The Changeful Painling
by Dither
Summary: A planet-sweeping crew is overwhelmed by the world's denizens and now the fate of the Irken Empire rests with ... Skoodge?


Zim Fic 107 b - The Changeful Painling  
  
Written by Dither  
  
Scene 1  
  
Fade in  
  
Title: The Changeful Painling  
  
Opens in a city on an alien-looking world with contorted, hunched over buildings. Strange yellow-green people with large bug eyes and bat-like ears flee from their homes  
  
A nearby explosion rocks the camera and it tilts upwards so a rain of energy bolts can be seen raining down. Smoke trails up from buildings off the side of the screen  
  
Angle changes to front of one building. One alien carries an infant in its arms and runs frantically to join the mob. A couple of children trail after it hurriedly  
  
Angle changes to an atmospheric shot of the planet with space on the left and the planet filling the right side. Irken ships can be seen in orbit, firing upon the world  
  
View changes to wide shot of orbital fleet. Camera pushes through a view port on one of the larger orbiting ships. A hologram of the Tallest is being projected for a small audience of Invaders  
  
Red: ...and in commemoration of your victory...  
  
Purple: ...blah blah blah...  
  
Red ...we hereby award you with this special ... erm...  
  
Purple: Award.  
  
Red: ...award for conquering the planet um...  
  
Purple: Swax? Smelx? Something like that.  
  
Red: We award you this award-thing for conquering the planet whatever-its- name is ... FEEL HONORED!  
  
The Invader, whose face is not seen because he/she is facing away from the camera, salutes and his antennae shoot straight up in ... honor  
  
Red: Anyway uh ... here you go.  
  
A cable snakes out of the display and pins a medal on the Invader, who flinches as it is inned on  
  
Purple: Now go out there soldier, and conquer an equally useless planet for the sake of our glorious empire. Good luck and um ... go with the grace of ... snacks.  
  
Red: Turns to Purple and raises an eyebrow Go with the grace of snacks?  
  
Purple: Shrugging It sounded good at the time...  
  
The hologram goes static and disappears. The Invader turns around and faces the group of Irkens behind him - towards the camera. His eyes are bug- like those of the creatures from the planet. A gasp goes up from the audience  
  
One Irken steps forward  
  
Skoodge: Hey! That guy...  
  
The Invader squeezes his eyes shut and rubs them, and then pulls out the bug-contacts, beneath which are yellow-green Irken eyes. There is a collective sigh of relief  
  
Invader: Tapping something at his throat Weee-rrrrlllll...  
  
Something sparks at his throat and he tears off an alien-looking device. He blinks and his eyes squish and turn into the bug-like ones again  
  
Being: In a shrill echo-y alien voice As I was saying...  
  
There are shrieks in the audience. Some Irkens laugh  
  
Skoodge: Wait! No ... he really IS an alien!  
  
Bat ears sprout out of the sides of his head, and he grows paler until he is revealed as one of the denizens of the conquered world  
  
Being: Don't panic, it's the end of your invasion, is all.  
  
View changes to the small crowd. From all around them, more Irkens reveal themselves as the world's people. There is a brief struggle  
  
Skoodge: Ah no! This ain't good!  
  
Skoodge manages to slip out during the fight and disappear into a ventilation-thing. The real Irkens in the room are subdued, and there is a general cheering from the group of aliens  
  
The being makes a sweeping gesture and the aliens fan out  
  
Being: Take the ship! Leave no rock unturned! The Irken cowards will scuttle into any nook to avoid capture!  
  
Angle changes as a beeping and blinking light catches the being's attention  
  
After a moment, he transforms to look like an Irken, and activates the blinking switch. An Irken tech appears onscreen  
  
Irken Tech: Is there something wrong Sir? Your ship has stopped firing on the planet?  
  
Being: Coughing at first, trying to imitate an Irken voice A strike force from the planet has managed a boarding and is attempting to overrun the ship! Recall all smaller fighters and send as many reinforcements as you can manage to help us fight them off!  
  
Irken Tech: Looking confused But our information indicated they had no space-going vessels!  
  
Being: We were wrong, our signal is breaking up! Hurry! They're coming! Looking over his shoulder dramatically and leaning closer to the screen for emphasis They're coming!  
  
Irken Tech: Yes Sir!  
  
The being cuts off the transmission and reverts back to his true form. An explosion rocks part of the ship and looks casually over his head as his team re-assembles behind him  
  
Being: ...they're here.  
  
The unconscious Irkens have been bound and gagged, and moved to a far corner of the bridge. Some have awoken and struggle to get free  
  
View cuts to outside the ship. Dozens of the smaller ships dock with the larger one, and subsequently detach and explode  
  
A ripple goes out from the ship as it appears to transform like the planet's natives, into a warship of a very different design. Other ships transform as well, revealing more alien ships, which overcome the Irken planet-sweeping fleet and destroy or capture the remaining ships  
  
View changes to one of the planet's surface, where the crowd in the streets turns to stare upwards at the explosion in orbit in their squeaky high-pitched voices  
  
Fade out  
  
A pair of small red Irken eyes blink in the darkness  
  
End of Scene 1  
  
A/N: Well, surprised to see me?  
  
It's been a while since I published something on FF.net, but I've been helping Lord Timothy with Doom Doom Revolutionary Invader Zim (which is on hiatus right now due to lack of readers/reviewers - so go read it and say something nice) and some with Gauntlet of PAIN. 


End file.
